QUETTA: Dr Abdul Malik Baloch — nominated for the post of Balochistan chief minister — will be the first chief executive of the province who is neither a tribal chieftain nor member of any family of former rulers of princely states.
A medical doctor by profession, Dr Malik belongs to a middle-class and educated family of Kech district.
Born in Sigenisar village near Turbat in the family of Haji Abdul Salam, a zamindar, Dr Malik got his early education from a village school and did his intermediate from the Government Collage, Turbat.
He completed his MBBS from the Bolan Medical College and later specialised in eye surgery. He ran a clinic in Turbat for a brief period before entering active politics.
Dr Malik played an active role in Baloch Students Organisation (BSO). In 1987, he formed a political party — Baloch National Youth Movement (BNYM).
Not satisfied with the performance of the BNYM, he later formed Balochistan National Movement (BNM) with Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch as its chairman.
Dr Malik first contested election in 1988 for a Balochistan Assembly seat from the platform of Balochistan National Alliance headed by Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Sardar Ataullah Mengal.
He won the seat and was made health minister in the cabinet of Nawab Akbar Bugti. In 1993 general elections, he won a provincial seat and served as education minister in the cabinet of Nawab Magsi.
In 2004, the National Party (NP) came into existence as a broad-base political party with the merger of Dr Malik’s BNM and Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo’s National Democratic Party.
Dr Hayee was elected first president of the NP and now Dr Malik is its head. From 2006 to 2012, Dr Malik remained a member of the Senate and aised his voice on the issues of Balochistan in the upper house of the parliament.
He played a major role in discussions over the 18th Amendment and in encouraging the PPP to surrender the entire Concurrent List of the constitution to provinces.
Dr Malik is considered as the most popular leader of the NP among party activists.
During the campaign for the 2013 general elections he managed to win the sympathy and support of tribal chieftains and sardars who won their traditional seats.
The main challenges before Dr Malik as chief minister would be the problem of corruption in the province, the missing persons issue, security challenges and good governance.
Political observers are of the opinion that Dr Malik would have face big challenges as the chief minister of the province, but most of them say he has the ability to rid the province of its ills and put it on the right track.
< Dawn >
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